The Cigar Rights of
America recently announced it has worked with lawmakers to help
introduce a first-of-its-kind bipartisan bill that would, if passed,
protect premium cigars from being legislated by the Food & Drug
Administration.

In
addition, the CRA today launched a national petition drive, called
Operation Cigar Liberty, to garner signatures and support for the bill,
officially filed as House Resolution 1639.

H.R. 1639, introduced by
Rep. Bill Posey of Florida and dubbed the "Traditional Cigar
Manufacturing & Small Business Jobs Preservation Act," removes the
FDA's jurisdiction over the premium cigar industry by amending the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Why is this important to cigar
enthusiasts and retailers?

Well in 2009, the FDA was granted full
regulatory control of tobacco products like cigarettes, roll-your-own
tobacco and smokeless tobacco when President Barack Obama signed the
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law.

The FDA had an immediate impact on the cigarette industry—banning all flavored cigarettes save for menthol, limiting the
release of new products, limiting advertising and placing restrictions
on the use of words such as "light"—and other tobacco products, however, the cigar industry remained largely unrestricted.

Last year, though, the FDA publicly declared its intent to regulate cigars. Rather than wait for
potentially industry-threatening legislation to occur, though, the CRA, in conjunction with the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers association, decided to act.

CRA is asking all
cigar enthusiasts to get behind this bill by voicing their opinion to
their representatives.

Visit http://www.cigarrights.org/petition_FDA001.php
to find out more.

Hopefully, we'll see more reasonable and positive tobacco, cigar and cigarette regulation and standards. Electronic cigarettes recently received a posititive ruling from the FDA, so hopefully it's all good news for the industry.